Walking into any of its stores felt like an exploration in 1970s technology sprinkled with modern technology carried at your local Best Buy.

RadioShack had starts and stops in changing its brand image, but it was too slow to the punch.

The company stunted its own growth by refusing to be innovative and holding on to an old way of doing things.

Differentiate

Once you’ve identified your target audience and how to serve it, you must distinguish your brand from the competition.

You can’t be different for the sake of being different; stand out for the sake of being a more powerful, contemporary way to improve people’s lives.

Microsoft and Apple have danced this tango for a long time now, and are great examples of distinguishing your products from the competition.

For example, when Microsoft released the Surface Book, it entered into an identity crisis—it wasn’t sure if it was a product company, an operating system, or a search engine.

Sure, Microsoft could emulate Apple and focus on designing a perfect product with optimal performance.

But then Microsoft would be stuck within that similarly narrow iOS focus.

Instead, Microsoft has recently played off of the specialization of Apple and decided to offer a suite of fully integrated products and services (and is slowly starting to shed its reputation as just a software company).

When your company is fighting against a customer identity crisis, it’s far too easy to misread signals and make ill-advised decisions.

After all, if you don’t understand who you serve, then all of your efforts to brand, stock, develop, or innovate your products will reflect this misguided state.

About Daniel Hilbert

Daniel Hilbert is the Senior Vice President of U.S. events at GES, a global event marketing company with a long history of connecting people through live events. The company has more than 3,000 passionate employees throughout the world who provide unparalleled service and consistent execution of breakthrough experiences that blend art and science to foster engagement.